BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 47 



facturers are rapidly realizing the advantage of using these wheats 

 for macaroni in preference to the ordinary bread wheats, and are now 

 ready to take practically all that can be grown this season. A circular 

 on the subject has been published and a report is now in course of 

 preparation. During the current year a large quantitj^ of these wheats 

 will be imported in connection with the OlRce of Seed and Plant In- 

 troduction, and much attention will be given to establishing the 

 macaroni industry on a firm basis and testing new varieties. 



JEmmer. — Another crop for semiarid regions to which the Depart- 

 ment is calling attention is a food for stock called emmer. This crop is 

 a heavy yielder, and seems to do well where most other crops would 

 perish from drought or cold. A Farmers' Bulletin on the subject is now 

 in press. 



DISEASES OF FRUITS. 



Bitter rot of apioles. — The losses caused by bitter rot in the Middle 

 States often amount to half or three- fourths of the entire fruit crop, 

 single large growers sometimes losing 10,000 barrels of apples. One 

 firm estimated tliat their losses in 1000 on apples bought in the orchard 

 in Missouri alone amounted to 120,000 to $30,000, and orchards which 

 in midsummer promised a yield of 25,000 barrels of choice apples pro- 

 duced only about 5,000 barrels of indifferent fruit, owing to this dis- 

 ease. The president of the National Apple Shippers' Association esti- 

 mated that the damage to the apple crop of the United States in 1900 

 from bitter rot was $10,000,000. These enormous losses have led us 

 to renew our investigations of the disease, and extensive experiments 

 have been inaugurated this season in Virginia, Illinois, and Missouri 

 to test the efficacy of sjiraying in preventing this disease. The experi- 

 ments in Virginia, the only ones on which a report has yet been made, 

 appear to be satisfactory. The work is so important that it will be 

 vigorousl}^ pushed next season. 



Peach rot. — This disease, caused by the fungus Monilia, has been 

 so extremely destructive to the peach orchards of Georgia and Michi- 

 gan that renewed efforts have been made to find methods of combating 

 it and also to learn more definitely the life history of the fungus. 

 Last summer one grower in the State of Georgia lost his entire crop 

 of 40 carloads of peaches by this disease, and similar losses, repre- 

 senting more or less complete destruction of the crops, were common in 

 the State. In Michigan, too, the losses were very severe, often amount- 

 ing to one-fourth or one-half of the entire output of whole sections. 

 An extensive spraying experiment was inaugurated in Virginia last 

 spring to test the effect of different mixtures and different dates of 

 spraying both on the i)each and tlie plum, and although this experi- 

 ment was not as successful as had been anticipated, owing probably to 

 the wet season, the disease was reduced about one-half, and besides 

 some new facts were learned in regard to the life history of the fungus 

 and the resistance of different varieties of fruit. Another important 

 fact brought out is that the rot fungus is distributed by insects — wasps, 

 soldier bugs, and honeybees being prominent in the destructive work. 

 Where the destruction by the rot fungus was extremely severe certain 

 varieties were almost immune, ripening a satisfactory crop alongside 

 of the rotting fruits. The importance of breeding tlie varieties resist- 

 ant to the disease will be discussed more in detail under "Plant 

 breeding." While planning these experiments a new device for 

 mixing Bordeaux mixture was invented or perfected. 



